2022 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Christos Massalas’ Broadway

A 30-something Greek-born filmmaker who has checkboxed major stops on the international film festival circuit with his short film output, Christos Massalas could have leaned towards the Euro film festival circuit (his short film Copa-Loca was a Directors’ Fortnight entry) in 2021 but something tells me his feature debut film might secure a Park City/Rotterdam spots instead. Set in Athens, production on Broadway took place in autumn of 2020 (it was set to shoot pre-pandemic) and saw Massalas re-team with lead actress Elsa Lekakou and his DP Konstantinos Koukoulios (from Babis Makridis’ Pity fame – premiered in Sundance in 2018). Perhaps a modern wink to Bresson’s Pickpocket, Broadway was workshopped Sundance Screenwriters Lab in 2018 and Cannes Film Festival’s L’Atelier Cinéfondation.

Gist: This tells the story of a group of four young bandits in modern-day Athens. Nelly (Elsa Lekakou) is a tomboy, while Barbara is a boy on the run, dressed as a girl, Rudolph is a prankster, and Mohammad is always there to save the day. They all collaborate by combining the art of dance with the art of pickpocketing. When Nelly and Barbara perform their dance routines to distract the passers-by, Rudolph and Mohammad seize the opportunity to dig inside the spectators’ pockets, pilfering wallets and smartphones.

Production Co./Producers: Neda Film’s Amanda Livanou, Blue Monday Productions’ Bertrand Gore and Digital Cube’s Cristian Nicolescu.

Prediction: WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.  Le Pacte (domestic, international).